The Houston Parent-Child Development Center: A Parent Education Program for Mexican-American Families.

Johnson, Dale L.; And Others

The Houston Parent-Child Development Center (PCDC) is described. PCDC is similar to most compensatory education programs in its objectives, but different in process as it starts intervention during infancy and directs educational efforts at the parents. The program is open to low income Mexican-American families with at least one child under 3 years of age. The curriculum is taken from research on learning and child development. Communication and open feedback between the staff members and parents are emphasized. The program consists of In-Home, Family Workshops, and In-Center components. An evaluation design is described, involving longitudinal study of children, parents, and other program family members, as well as control group families. Data has been collected for 34 program families and 28 controls after one year, and 17 program and 17 control families after two years of the program. Measures of assessment include the Bayley Scales of Infant Development, Caldwell's Home Inventory, Maternal Interaction Structured Situation, Stanford Binet, and the Palmer Concept Formation Index. Analysis of results is incomplete, but initial results seem to be positive. (DP)